Take Advantage of Those 'Cheatin’ Tools'

One day, years ago, my dad was teaching me how to repair the drum brakes on my first car, a 1962 Impala. Midway through the job, a buddy of mine happened to stop by. After checking out our progress, he said, “Must be nice to have all those cheatin’ tools.”

See, my dad was a veteran mechanic. That meant we had all the appropriate equipment to do the brake job quickly and efficiently — brake star wheel adjusting tool, spring compression tool, spring pliers and so on. My buddy didn’t have any of those, and instead used whatever generic hand tools he had in his toolbox to repair his brakes. So, while he was able to complete his brake job, he could have saved time and effort by using the right tools.

It seems some shops operate in a similar mode as him. That is, they have basic equipment and processes in place to get their machining work done, but more advanced, capable technologies and strategies could speed and streamline production and make them more competitive. In some cases, their existing capacity might even place a ceiling on the complexity of work they can take on. Therein lies the value of an event such as the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS), where attendees can see in one location a range of new machining equipment, concepts and ideas they can immediately leverage to move their shops forward (i.e. “cheatin’ tools”).

This notion is exemplified by the brass part I received at IMTS, which I’m holding in the photo above. This very complex albeit fictitious part does a great job of demonstrating the range of operations that Star CNC’s new 29-tool SD-26 Type S Swiss-type lathe can perform. And it goes way beyond turning to include myriad operations such as B-axis milling, gear hobbing, spline creation and more. The company says that if run at 100% (the machining demonstration was dialed back at the show), the total cycle time to machine this part on the SD-26 would be only 7.5 minutes. But it also is a great example of how other elements such as software and cutting tools come together with machine tool technology to create an efficient process for creating complex parts — ideally on one piece of equipment, as this one was.

During last September’s IMTS, I hustled to see as many exhibitors as possible to add to my stash of story leads. These I’ll report on in the months ahead. And I’ll be doing the same at next year’s Precision Machining Technology Show (PMTS) held April 1-3 in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Huntington Convention Center. With more than 300 exhibiting companies expected, it’s a healthy yet manageable show to navigate, and it is solely focused on the precision machined parts industry of which you’re a member. PMTS 2025 also will feature numerous live machining demonstrations on the show floor while offering a range of educational, training and networking opportunities.

In the meantime, we at Production Machining will continue to offer new ideas for equipment and processes that shops like yours can leverage to their advantage. We do that through our print publication, digital magazine edition, PM NOW e-newsletter, our various social media channels and our recently revamped productionmachining.com website designed for easier navigation and user experience.